Thousands of Religion Scholars Meet in Chicago

Some five thousand scholars converge on Chicago, Ill., Nov. 1–3, 2008, to review the latest research in the field of religion at the 2008 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion. Accompanying them are more than 100 publishers, whose displays will create one of the world’s largest bookstores specializing in religion.

More than 300 meeting sessions are scheduled this year on topics such as African American religious history, environmentalism, cognitive science, religion in public schools, contemporary Islam, religion and the media, Jesus and biblical ethics, the war on terror, medicine and healing, religion and food, politics and the 2008 presidential election, and several sessions with a focus on South Asian scholars and scholarship.

The publishers’ exhibits and the meeting sessions take place at the Chicago Hilton Towers. Registration, which is required for admission to the sessions, is complimentary for journalists, as is admission to the exhibit hall, and can be arranged in advance or on site at the Chicago Hilton Towers.

The AAR, founded in 1909, is the world’s largest association of religion scholars with more than 10,000 members from some 1,500 colleges, universities, seminaries, and schools in North America and abroad. Its mission is to foster excellence in the study of religion by promoting research, publishing, and teaching about religion in academia. The AAR neither endorses nor rejects any religious belief or practice.

To find out more information or to preregister for the meeting, contact Susan Snider at ssnider@aarweb.org or 404-727-4725.